The Grand Tour: Introduction

OS X Lion is the most technologically advanced operating system Apple has ever released. While there's a lot of powerful stuff going on under the hood, Lion makes it easy for you to work, play, and get entertainment on your Mac.

These interface lessons will introduce you to the different pieces that make up the Mac interface, show you how to get around in it. You'll also learn how to use the Finder and Finder windows, the desktop, the menu bar, the Dock, the Trash, files and folders, and more. 

For visual reference, here's a quick view of your Mac desktop.

Lesson 1: The Finder—The Finder is the way to find stuff on your Mac. Learn how to do exactly that using the Finder and Finder windows. 

Lesson 2: The Desktop—This is your main work area. Learn more about what it is and how to configure it to your organizational whim. 

Lesson 3: The Dock—The Dock is the place for things that are important to you. We'll show you how to use the Dock and customize it for your daily routine.

Lesson 4: Stacks—The Dock includes Stacks, folders that give you quick access to documents, files, and downloads. Stacks spring from the Dock providing fast access to a folder.

Lesson 5: Mission Control—Mission Control brings together Expose, Dashboard, Spaces, and full-screen apps to give you one place to see and navigate everything running on your Mac. When you need a little more room for your windows and documents, Mission Controls lets you create new desktop spaces and quickly navigate among them.

Lesson 6: Applications, Files, and Folders—You're going to use these things frequently, so get to know what they are. We'll show you how to open and close applications, files, and folders. You'll learn to get more information about these items and how to do various other tasks that involve them. 

Lesson 7: Set Your Preferences—From sound effects to sleep time to changing your language, we'll show you how to set your Mac preferences for your tastes and needs. 

Lesson 8: Mac Essentials—Did you know that your Mac is smart enough to update its own software? Or that Spotlight can search files such as documents, emails, dates in iCal, and webpages that you've visited. 

Take me back to the Mac 101 index